


Of mice and men

by AndromedaofOthys



Series: April Writing Prompt 2016 [5]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fic, Steve Rogers Feels, Tony Stark Has A Heart, books are great for bonding and dating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-06
Updated: 2016-04-06
Packaged: 2018-05-31 16:35:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6477745
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AndromedaofOthys/pseuds/AndromedaofOthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For April Writing Prompt!</p>
<p>Steve's always been an avid book reader - but this book left a huge imprint in his life.<br/>It followed him through transformation, Bucky's death and introduction to 21st century.<br/>Who would've known it would land him a date and a boyfriend as well?</p>
<p>Steve-centric.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Of mice and men

Steve used to read a lot, back in thirties and forties. But there was this one story, ‘Of mice and men’, that burned itself into his brain. Bucky and him managed to snag one copy in 1938 with the money they got from helping in a bar, and he remembered vividly the sound of the pages turning, the smell of new book. The story itself held him captive, and put his struggles into perspective - the writer, John Steinbeck, obviously knew The Great Depression from personal experience. Steve knew how difficult it was to write about such things, and in a way that would make people think without making them angry or pitying. Bucky used to tease him about his similarity with Curley’s tendency to pick up fights, and Steve would always retort that he fought for others, not because he had something to prove. George in particular held the pair's attention: a man with big dreams, constantly pulling his friend out of trouble, and yet he shot his friend after he accidentally killed Curley’s wife.

‘Som’tim’s, that fella reminds me of us’, Bucky once commented in a hushed whisper, furtively looking around. The bar they were working in was seedy, and they didn’t need the wrong sort of attention.

‘Impossible dreams, you mean?’ the blonde whispered back, finishing up the drying of the mugs. ‘Rather than shooting your friend in the back of his head.’ The brunette shook his head, shivering slightly.

‘Don’t even joke like that, punk’, he gave the blonde his most serious stare. Steve nodded slightly.

‘Only if you don’t, jerk.’

In the following years and subsequent war, Steve had nearly forgotten about the small paperback he kept in his locker. First occupied with being circus-show, later with endless stream of HYDRA hunting missions with Howling Commandos, it was Bucky’s death that jogged his memories and caused him to take it out of the locker again. Snatching a bottle of cheap liquor Dum-Dum seemed to always have stashed around somewhere, he took them both to the first empty house that wasn’t in immediate danger of collapsing in on itself, and sat there staring through them, recalling every good, bad and in-between memory he had of his deceased best friend. It took Peggy quite a mean guilt-trip and A-class name calling to get him to put himself together for the last mission: the destruction of the last HYDRA base, and facing Johann Schmidt for the second time.

 

In his biased opinion, the mission was going positively swell: his ruse of getting captured lured and distracted both HYDRA and Red Skull thoroughly enough that they were completely unprepared for a full-out frontal assault by SSR, Howling Commandos and 107th.  _ For a guy in spandex wielding nothing but a metal shield _ , Steve thought wryly, chasing Schmidt to his private airstrip,  _ I’ve certainly been lucky - and noticeable. _

‘Shit!’ He swore when he noticed a black, sleek plane of an unfamiliar design roll past him to the cave mouth.

‘Captain!’ Colonel Phillips shouted from behind, closing in fast in a car, Peggy sitting shotgun. ‘Get inside!’ Steve jumped in gratefully, and with a parting kiss from Peggy - and a sassy comment from Colonel -  he jumped up, catching the wing of the plane and getting himself inside. He even managed to disable all of the smaller aircrafts carrying bombs and their would-be pilots on his way to the control room. Having come there, he entered a little chase-Captain-America-and-his-shield-around-the-room with Schmidt, but ultimately the Cube finished him off. Now, his only thought after seeing the charted course was:  _ how the hell should I stop this?  _ He opened the comm channel to the HYDRA base, got through his message to Peggy and angled the plane into the freezing cold Arctic Sea. His last thought was:  _ I guess I’ll not read  _ Of mice and men _ anytime soon _ .

 

Waking up in the 21st century was… disorientating, to say the least. The technology moved onward while he was asleep in the ice; the people and his city changed to the point of it being almost unrecognisable to the Captain America  _ and _ Steven Rogers. So many of his friends died, leaving their children behind or dying as bachelors: so much history missed, and very little of it good. One thing that had not completely changed, as Steve found out on his third walk outside his SHIELD-issued apartment, was the existence of bookshops. He ran across one near Williamsburg Bridge, and he couldn’t resist going in. The interior wasn’t wood panels anymore: even here, metal and plastic dominated, but the soothing feeling of being surrounded by actual books (not their electronic version!) pushed that sentiment to the back of his mind.

‘Good morning sir’, a perky Latina girl, her tag naming her  _ Lucia _ greeted him from behind the counter. ‘How may I help you?’

‘Do you have  _ Of mice and man _ by John Steinbeck, by any chance?’ Steve asked hopefully. Lucia smiled politely and bustled off, calling over her shoulder.

‘Of course we do! Gimme a second.’ After a few minutes, she returned with the familiar book in her left hand.

‘5.99 dollars’, she said scanning the book. ‘Out of sheer curiosity’, she continued accepting the money, ‘why this book? It can be quite controversial when it comes to black people’s rights.’ Steve’s lips curled upwards.

‘I’ve read it a while ago, and it’s not about that. At least I’ve never felt it like that. It’s about people’s dreams - and how reality likes to crush them.’ Lucia’s smile grew from merely polite to genuine.

‘Finally someone who understands.’ She waved and winked to him as he exited, prompting a blush from him and tighter hold on the book.

 

After the whole disaster with Loki and alien invasion, Steve went around the country, but gave up on it quickly: this century still completely puzzled him. His only retreat choices were his cold Brooklyn apartment, or Stark Tower. In all honesty, even with his ongoing clashes and arguments with the owner of the said building, Captain America was game enough to admit he simply wasn’t up for going to his apartment and being reminded of everything he lost. Living in Stark Tower would, while not being calm, not reopen his old wounds. That being said, he was still quite surprised to see Tony Stark waiting for him in the penthouse.

‘Hey Capsicle’, the inventor greeted him absent-mindedly, twirling a - was it a  _ hologram _ , or something? - of his suit in his palm. ‘What brings  _ you _ to my humble abode?’

‘For it to be humble, you’d have to deflate your ego to its actual height’, the supersoldier bit back at the proffered opening. ‘Currently it’s being dwarfed by it.’

‘I’m so hurt, Cap’, Tony said in mock-hurt. ‘Do you hear that, Jarv?’

‘ _ Yes I do, sir _ ’, came a British voice. Steve was proud of not jumping like the first time Tony’s AI and he met. ‘ _ And in this instance I have to agree with Captain Rogers. _ ’

‘Traitor’, Tony mumbled. ‘Anyway Cap, I’ve got something for ya before you go to your floor.’ With those words he took a wooden chest off of the nearby glass table.

‘What’s that?’ Steve asked, intrigued, feeling for the locking mechanism.

‘Ah, it was part of my Dad’s junk’, Tony replied off-handedly, his brown eyes tracking Steve’s every movement. ‘Said it was from your locker.’ Steve froze, his fingers hovering over the clasp.

‘Well’, the blonde muttered, ‘I’d better open it, then.’ And true to Howard’s note and Tony’s words, he found the ratty copy of  _ Of mice and men _ , a rolled-up stack of his sketches, a few knickknacks.

‘Thank you Tony’, his blue eyes shimmering with tears. ‘How will I ever repay you for this?’ Tony smirked.

‘Let’s start with a nice date, hmm?’ Steve’s eyebrows rose up, guessing at the meaning of the seemingly innocent question.

‘Tony, do you have feelings for me?’ Tony blustered incoherently, and now it was Steve’s turn to smirk.

‘I’ll take that as yes.’ And without waiting for another second, he planted a kiss on the corner of the inventor’s mouth.


End file.
